Nikola Issues Safety Recall
The road to alternative fuel sources in cars is long and arduous, let alone within the trucking industry. Recently, Tesla had undergone a safety recall regarding its electric Semi truck, and now a rival company named after the same famous inventor, Nikola, is doing the same.
Details
The news comes after two trucks were set ablaze at their headquarters in Arizona, one month after the other. The first fire took place on June 23rd, destroying four semi-trucks. The second fire, on July 23rd, was the result of a truck that they were closely monitoring to see if it would ignite so that they could isolate the cause of the problem.
At first, Nikola suspected sabotage, but after doing some investigative work as a result of the second fire, they believe the fires to be the result of a battery defect. As such, they are recalling 209 of their semi trucks and are halting sales until the issue is resolved.
“At Nikola, we take safety very seriously,” said Steve Girsky, Nikola’s CEO. “We stated from the beginning that as soon as our investigations were concluded, we would provide an update, and we will continue our transparency as we learn more.”
Nikola says that any of their electric trucks its customers still want to use should have the Main Battery Disconnect on at all times so as to minimize the chances of any fire.
Conclusion
As truck manufacturers attempt to make the transition to electric vehicles and commercial vehicles powered by other energy sources such as hydrogen, there are bound to be obstacles that make the process difficult. After all, the lightbulb, now commonplace everywhere and improved upon multiple times, took Thomas Edison over 1,000 different attempts in order to get the first model that worked.
The technological trucking companies had better act soon, though. California is still set to ban diesel trucks by 2042, and with it being the most populous state in the nation, trucking businesses can hardly afford to lose such a large customer base. Only time will tell if manufacturers will meet that deadline in full.
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